Understanding Vanity Dialing in Samsung Smartphones

Samsung has included a feature in their phones called Vanity Dialing. As the name implies, this feature will allow you to dial those ever popular vanity numbers like 1-800-Flowers or 1-800-Samsung. You can find Vanity Dialing on the new Samsung Jack, Propel Pro and even the older BlackJack II devices under Start / Settings / Key Settings / Vanity Dialing. After turning this on, you will need to reboot your phone before you can use the feature.

Now that you have turned this on, you can easily dial vanity numbers without trying to remember what number M, or I, or K, or E. You can use your QWERTY keyboard to enter the full word easily and the smartphone will automatically replace the letters with the correct numbers. To use the feature, start entering the number as you normally would. When you get to the letters, press the function (Fn) key and then type the word using your keyboard. For example, if you wanted to dial 1-800-MobileJaw, you would press 1, 8, 0, 0, Fn, M, o, b, i, l, e, J, a, w (without the comma’s). That’s easy enough, right? So get out there and dial those vanity numbers!

Hard Resetting the Samsung BlackJack II

How can someone go about doing a hard reset on this device?  If you’re looking to wipe the device clean and return it to factory settings – that means removing all of your personal settings and data stored on the deivce, then the easiest way is to press Start \ Settings \ Security \ Reset and then follow the prompt to wipe the device and/or the storage card.

But what happens if you’ve managed to really mess things up and you can’t get the phone started?  No problem.  With the phone powered off, press and hold UP on the directional pad.  Then, turn on the device and continue to hold the UP key until you see a message on the screen.  You will be prompted to select 1 for reset or any other key to cancel. I recommend doing this with the device connected to power or with a fully charged battery. I can only imagine the mess that would result if the battery ran dry during the hard reset process.

Samsung’s Smashing New Smartphones

Samsung has officially announced four new Windows Mobile devices. There was no mention of price or availability of the 3 Windows Mobile Professional and 1 Standard devices. However, it is expected that they will be available in the next couple months. The Professional devices all build off the incredibly successful Omnia product line. The first device is the Omnia II which will feature a large 3.1 inch AMOLED display with 480×800 resolution, 800 MHz processor, TouchWiz 2.0 user interface, and Samsung’s Dolfin internet browser that supports viewing of up to 5 web pages simultaneously. The Omnia II, also known as the Jet, will also sport a 5 megapixel camera, GPS, FM Radio, Bluetooth, WiFi, DNSe and SRS Sound Effect technology, as well as DivX and Xvid video support. The Omnia Pro will have a slide-out QWERTY keyboard allowing fast and easy text input. The 4 row keyboard will slide on the left side of the device. The Omnia Lite will scale things down a little with a 3 megapixel camera and aGPS.

The final phone, and the only Windows Mobile Standard based device announced, is built from the extremely popular BlackJack I/II line of devices. The new Omnia Pro B7320 phone is very much the same as the Samsung Jack that has been released on AT&T’s network. The only noticeable difference in features is that the B7320 model will add an FM Radio.

The Omnia II and Omnia Pro devices appear to be very nice units. I’m not so sure about the Lite at this time, we’ll have to wait and see how that one turns out. And the B7320 (Jack) device is a solid follow-up to the BlackJack II. Samsung is sure moving hard and fast in the mobile space. It will be interesting to see what HTC announces later this month at their big event.

Where is the SMTP Patch for BlackJack II Users?

Back in the middle of November, Microsoft released a patch for people having problems sending emails on Windows Mobile devices. As it turned out, there was a small bug that would prevent devices from being able to send email from a given account. You could be working just fine for days or months and then whammo! You would never be able to send email from that account again.

I had that very problem and was happy to see Microsoft release a fix that was simple enough to apply. The only problem, as some of you may recall, is that when I installed it I lost all my email accounts. Oh, and who can forget the sudden and forced reboot. As it turns out, the BlackJack II reacted differently than expected to this patch and after a small up-roar, Microsoft updated the site and clearly outlined that the patch doesn’t work on the BlackJack II but they are working with Samsung to resolve this certificate problem. That announcement is dated December 1st.

Two things that really disappoint me here – the first is how Microsoft can release a patch and not test it against their top selling phones first. The BlackJack II is one of the devices on the million+ seller list. To release a patch and not test it against the current devices on that list is short-sighted and shows a clear disregard for Microsoft’s partners and their customers.

The other thing that disappoints me about this is that Microsoft has done nothing for over 2 months. The original patch release date was on November 12th and the warning for BlackJack users was posted on December 1st. It’s now February 8th and there is no sign of any updates for BlackJack users. Again, this is one of their best selling handsets yet we’re still left out in the cold for a fix to a problem that by all accounts is nothing more than a certificate issue. Seems to me like a patch could have been corrected and released inside of a couple days. I’ll even give them 2 weeks because we all know how slow Microsoft has become over the last couple years. But there is no reason for this to still be outstanding 2 months later.

So Microsoft, what do I and the other million+ BlackJack II owners need to do to get this patch? If it would help speed things up, I can lend you my BlackJack II.

Changing the Media Net and Cellular Video Buttons on the BlackJack II

A little while back I spent some time looking around for a way to change the destination for the AT&T Media Net dedicated button on my BlackJack II. There was a couple different solutions but they all seemed to be way to complicated or involved unnecessary executables that would reside in memory on the device. So after a short browse around the device, I’ve figured out how to modify the Media Net button along with the Cellular Video buttons on the BlackJack II. There’s no registry editing required, and no need to download a third party application that will intercept your key press’s and then launch the application or link of your choice.

The following steps outline how to change the Media Net button.

[ ..Read More.. ]

New Simplier Approach to Disable Read-Only Network Settings on BlackJack II

A couple months ago I published an article that details the steps required to remove the network settings lock that has been turned on by AT&T with their Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM update for the BlackJack II (and PanTech Dual – if it’s ever released). The steps require you to application unlock the phone and install a registry editor so you can modify a couple values in the registry. While it’s not very difficult, I can imagine that some people are nervous about editing the registry or even application unlocking the phone. Now there’s a quick, easy, and downright simple solution to removing the read only lock placed on the network settings. Follow the steps below and you will have that locked removed in no time!

1. Open the File Explorer (found under Start \ All Programs \ Applications \ File Explorer) and browse to the Windows folder. Once in the Windows folder you are looking for an application called “UAMgr”. The quickest way to get to this file is to push the letter U on the keyboard and the phone will jump down to the files that start with U.
2. Run UAMgr by highlighting the file and pressing down on the action button. When the application opens you will see a screen that says “UAPMgr/Streaming” in the top title bar and “UA/Streaming Manager 2008″ in the center of the screen.
3. Press the Menu \ Tool \ Unlock ReadOnly. The phone will then present you with a confirmation screen indicating that Read Only has been unlocked. Press OK and then Close and you’re done.

Special thanks to encece for helping locate this tool. I’ve tested it on a couple of my phones and it works great.

How To Unlock GPRS Settings on BlackJack II with Windows Mobile 6.1

Now that Samsung has made the Windows Mobile 6.1 ROM upgrade official for the BlackJack II, I should take a minute and remind everyone about the post I made a while back that helps you to unlock the carrier networks settings. This is a new feature that was added to Windows Mobile 6.1 by special request of the carriers who are looking for ways to reduce support calls from people that toy around with the network settings and don’t know what they are doing.

Of course, anyone with a unlocked BlackJack II that is looking to use the phone on a different network will need to unlock these settings and modify them to match the settings for their carriers network.

You can read the original post with full details on how to remove the lock over here. And to everyone that’s upgrading, enjoy the new ROM and while you’re flashing your device, why not take on the No Reboot Challenge. What better time then right after a fresh and clean install of the OS.

Taking the No Reboot Challenge with Windows Mobile

In my recent post about stability, I talked about Windows Mobile and how it is a stable platform. The source of all that instability is poorly written 3rd party applications. To help prove my point, I’m taking on the “No Reboot Challenge”. The idea is simple, no more reboots of my phone for any reason and let’s see how long I can go before it starts acting funny or crashing. Furthermore, I won’t be killing or stopping any process’s. I’ll leave that up to Windows Mobile and Microsoft to see if they truly know best when it comes to managing memory on the device. The only applications that I will close are ones that have an Exit option in the menu.

To get the ball started on the right foot, I’m going to hard reset my device so I can be sure that there’s nothing weird hanging around in there. I’m doing this on a Samsung BlackJack II with a near final build of Windows Mobile 6.1. From what I’ve been told, this is what will be shipped on upcoming BlackJack II’s from AT&T. If you’re following along and taking the challenge with me, it doesn’t really matter what version of Windows Mobile you have on your device. I just ask that it’s the production ROM and not something that’s been cooked up and downloaded from the internet. The changes added into those illegal ROMs could easily be a source of instability.

After hard resetting the device, I need to ActiveSync it with my laptop to get all my Contacts, calendar, etc.. synced to it. Also, there are a couple applications that I can’t do without. So I’ve installed the following: Ilium’s eWallet, Sling Media’s SlingPlayer Mobile, Modaco’s Smartphone GPS Utility, and Microsoft’s Live Search. I use these applications on an almost daily basis and can’t imagine being without those. I also need to add my the data settings for my network so I can actually use data on the device. The last thing to do is configure email on the device. I’ve added 2 email accounts and both are set to pull email from the last 3 days and will do that every 60 minutes.

That’s it – that’s all the changes / additions I’ve made to the default configuration of this device. From now on I won’t reboot the device or close programs. I’ll be making updates to this post on a regular basis over the coming weeks reporting on how things are going. The success of my mobility is in the hands of Microsoft.

UPDATE (August 20 @ 10:10pm) – Everything has been going very well so far. I always forget how much there is to setup and configure on a freshly reset device. I went to use my JawBone Bluetooth headset only to learn that it hasn’t been paired with the phone since it was reset. Not a big deal, but it does make it a little hard to use. I also noticed that my mobile favorites had not synced back to the device. If I recall, this is a bug with the Windows Mobile Device Center. Annoying, but again, not the end of the world.

I’ve included a screen shot of the task manager so you can see what applications are running on the device. The items that are below the fold are Ilium’s Screen Capture tool and the Task Manager itself.

Smaller & Better Travel Versions – Not Always

A while ago I received a travel charger for my Samsung BlackJack II. This charger is sold, or at least it’s my understanding that it’s available from AT&T stores as a replacement for the standard charger that comes in the box. I already had a charger, so I didn’t really pay too much attention to it. That is, until the other day when I thought it would be a smart idea to leave one charger at work and one at home. Then I wouldn’t have to carry a cable around with me and I could be sure that the 2 most common places that I am usually at, has a charger for my device.

The above is a picture of the two charger cables. The one on the right is the standard cable that comes with the BlackJack II. The cable on the left is the “travel” charger that is available as an accessory from AT&T. Do you notice anything special about these two units? The biggest difference is the size. The travel charger is actually larger than the standard charge cable. I would have expected that the travel version is smaller and easier to pack into baggage. But this cable is actually bigger and thicker!

I snapped these pictures to show the size comparison between the two. You can clearly see that the standard charger is not nearly as wide or as deep as the travel version. With the exception of losing the original charger or requiring a second one for some reason, why would anyone purchase this accessory? It doesn’t add any travel value, in my opinion anyway. The only thing it has that adds any value over the original is the fold down prongs. Given the larger footprint, I can still pack the original cable and save space over the travel charger – regardless of the prongs being folded down or not.

It’s an nice design and the folding prongs is a cool feature, but I just don’t see this as being a worth-while purchase for travelling. Especially when the original is still smaller all around. Save your money and if you really need a spare, I would invest in a USB outlet adapter instead. Then you can charge more than just your phone.

Adjusting the Scroll Wheel Speed on Samsung BlackJack II

This has long been something that owners of the BlackJack II have complained about. The scroll wheel is a pretty good idea, but it takes too much to make it go around. One full rotation is required to move the highlighted item by 1 step. Unfortunately, there is nothing that can be done with the original BlackJack II.

However, if you have a BlackJack II that is running Windows Mobile 6.1, you’re in luck. First off, Samsung has addressed the speed issue from the get-go. Now, a quarter turn will move the highlighted item by 1. Which in turn means that 1 full rotation is the same as moving 4 places. There’s no interface for adjusting the speed of the scroll wheel, however, if you’re still looking for more from your scroll wheel there is a registry location that you can play around with.

Using your favorite registry editor, browse to HKLM / Software / Samsung / KeyRun. In this location you should see a entry called WheelSpeed with a value of 1. I changed this to a number of different values, but the only one that seemed to make a difference was 0 (Zero). No reboot is required after making the change. I simply closed the application and then relaunched it (You might even be able to skip that step, but I wanted to be sure). Now, with 1 full rotation, I can move 12 spots in the list. It’s not the same level of responsiveness as the i620, but it’s much better than before.

And for everyone that is wondering if they can put this setting on their BlackJack II running Windows Mobile 6; the answer is no. I did try that and there was no change on the device – that I noticed anyway.

Happy scrolling!

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